This invention relates to material storage means and, more particularly, to improved vibratory storage pile discharger means for promoting the downward flow of material from a storage pile of a flowable material, such as coal, limestone, woodchips, sulphur and the like, through an opening in a generally horizontal surface on which the pile is supported and into another area located beneath that pile-supporting surface.
Storage piles exist because they represent an economical arrangement for storage of large quantities of bulk solids. Some materials in storage piles flow without difficulty such as dry sand, gravel, etc., and yield large amounts of withdrawal without inducement. However, many materials such as limestone, coal, woodchips, sulphur, etc. need assistance in flowing from a storage pile.
In the past, various prior-art structures have been provided for promoting downward flow of these last-mentioned materials from a storage pile thereof through an opening in a generally horizontal surface on which the pile is supported. Perhaps the most successful thus far have been the vibratory storage pile discharger means shown and described in detail in Bulletin 105A published in March, 1980 by Vibranetics, Inc. of Louisville, Ky.
The present invention is concerned with providing vibratory storage pile discharger means which are improved over the just-noted prior-art structures in economy and simplicity of construction and in performance of desired function.